


Just marry me, dammit

by NCSP



Series: Something to tell you [6]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Mpreg, Wedding Planning, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-26 16:09:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15004517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NCSP/pseuds/NCSP
Summary: Weddings aren’t for the faint of heart





	1. Chapter 1

Having a deadline was both stressful and useful to Tony.

A schedule made sure he didn’t lose focus, and at the same time made him feel anxious at the prospect of not being able to get to the desired result.

It usually was about projects fo the SI or for the Government, but this time it was different.

His time-frame concerned a pregnant, despotic Norse god, a Pikatchu with a hammer, and a brutal and cruel Santa.

How he hadn’t started drinking heavily again was to wonder.

The main issue was how to tell Loki. 

Of all the other details Frigga was in charge, but for that there was no one he could ask to. He couldn’t certainly wait for Frigga and Thor to show up in the living room to tell him what was going on, though.

He was running out of time. The rendezvous with the other two gods was due in two days and a half, and he hadn’t progressed in the slightest with Loki. He hadn’t even tested the water with him, he didn’t know how.

The late evening saw them in bed, Tony reading the last documents of the day on an hologram and Loki leaning against Tony’s shoulder, drawing comfort from him before sleep came with its horrific images.

“Jarvis can turn off the light if you want, I can read anyway.”

“There’s no problem.”

Tony lightly scratched his back, “Bruce told me he could give you something to sleep, if you want to.”

“No,” Loki didn’t trust those remedies at all. Drinking some potions that made him unable to react to what was going on around him was going against his every instinct, against everything he had learnt in his long and troubled life. 

Tony simply nodded, not pushing the issue farther. He didn’t like those remedies either, so he could definitely understand Loki’s opposition.

They remained in a comfortable silence for the next half an hour, then Tony decided he had been responsible enough and swiped away the holograms with the back of his hand, turning his entire attention to Loki by his side.

“When did you become so domestic?” He asked, brushing away one of Loki’s long locks.

“I’m not domestic.”

“No, certainly not,” he tugged at his silky black pyjamas, something that had suddenly popped up in his wardrobe and that he hadn’t even noticed at first.

“You asked me to move in.”

“Never said otherwise.”

“Then why are you saying this right now?”

“Just making a point,” he mumbled, his lips going to Loki’s neck, kissing the pale skin that made such a strong contrast with his black hair.

“Or you’re just talking for the sake of it.”

“Me?” He asked as Loki almost purred under his mouth.

“Definitely… you,” he was having trouble focusing on the right words with Tony unbuttoning his shirt, his warm hands and hot mouth going everywhere. His fingers moved to get rid of Tony’s top, but they were batted away.

“We have all the time we want,” Tony explained noticing his confused gaze.

They were more for reiterated things than for slow ones, but tonight he wanted something different.

Loki surrendered completely to his lover, enjoying every caress and every kiss he was receiving, being only requested to relax and to abandon himself in the hands of the person who he trusted more.

The heat, the friction, the slow thrusts, everything was simply overwhelming, especially to someone so used to quick encounters void of any emotional connection.

They lost track of time, until Tony had a boneless heavy mess of trickster leaning against him, catching his breath.

“Good Norns,” Loki panted, his chest heaving, “That was…”

“Yes?” Tony prompted, a small smirk flittering across his lips.

“New.”

“You can also say: the best sex I’ve ever had in my age-hold life, I won’t get offended.”

Loki would’ve gladly insulted him, but he didn’t have it in him at the moment.

“You’re not denying,” Tony chuckled.

“I’ll give it was something definitely different.”

“The difference between sex and making love to someone?” He offered, and Loki remained silent in the warm embrace of his lover. He wouldn’t have voiced it, but there was indeed something true in Tony’s statement; he had never experienced before such a strong connection with someone, simply enjoyed the presence of the other person with him like that night. No one had ever been so awfully sweet with him, and he hated to admit it, but he loved it. Being showered with attention and care, with never ending kisses – the most lonesome part of him basked in it. That spoke of true devotion, where physical pleasure played only a marginal part; the most important issue was being together, sharing some time, being close in the most intimate way possible.

Loki hated to be that sentimental, to have to admit Tony was right in that, but it wasn’t his fault if that was true.

“I only want to sleep right now.”

Tony smiled against Loki’s hair; it had been almost two weeks the god had been doing anything to avoid sleep at night.

“What my prince wants my prince gets,” he kissed his temple and settled more comfortably against him, his arms around Loki’s waist as he let sleep claim them both.

That night Loki didn’t dream.

 

~

 

“What do you think Thor’s up to?’ Loki asked raising his eyes from the book in his lap as Tony entered the living room.

“No idea,” he threw his jacket on one of the armchairs, trying to look as smooth as possible.

From how loud the thunders were he could say Frigga had communicated the blond the jolly news. 

Oh god, that was the God of Thunder’s reaction at the prospect of becoming an uncle.

He was doomed.

“Had a nice day?” He asked, crossing the distance between him and Loki to deposit a kiss on his lips.

“Boring,” he said with a smile. Apparently for him it was a nice thing. All in all, for the God of Chaos boredom had to be something strange. And warmly appreciated when he had someone quite defenceless to protect.

“We should get you something to do. You can’t just sit on a couch for six months and a half.”

“Next time you call my mother without my consent you could ask her to bring me some of my books. I can’t practice too much magic right now, but there are a few things I could study.”

“That’s the same thing.”

“What do you want me to do? Have a nice stroll in the park?”

Tony scoffed, “Why is everything so difficult with you?”

And the most difficult part was yet to come… 

The genius decided it was the moment to break one of his new rules; he had quit drinking before dinner when he came home from work, only relying on something during the evening if he had nothing better to do, but since Loki’s presence had become more constant the number of days he spent without touching a single drop of liquor had increased. 

Maybe it was also due to the fact that Loki glared at him every time he only even hinted at opening his favourite bottle of scotch since the god had been strictly forbidden to do the same.

Now Tony needed some liquid courage, though.

“Why are you drinking?”

“You’ll know soon,” Tony muttered, his eye still fixed on the pitcher.

Many scenarios had come up in Tony’s mind during the last days; at best Loki would’ve laughed at him, at worst…. Well, he didn’t really want to think again about that. He was already anxious enough without lingering too much on the bad outcomes.  
Oh god, he was about to ask a god to marry him.

Oh god.

Oh good god.

Not particularly this one, but…

No, he had to stop this, or he would’ve ended up drunk and in the middle of a panic attack at the same moment.

“Tony? Is everything alright? You look pale.”

“That’s rich coming from you.”

Insulting his future betrothed, brilliant.

“It’s lovely to have you back home,” Loki snorted, returning to his book.

“No, Lokes, listen,” he put down the empty glass, “There’s something I have to tell you.”

Loki quirked a suspicious eyebrow. Nothing good ever came from a sentence like that.

“Nothing to be worried about, well, at least nothing that you should be worried about. I, on the contrary, I don’t know what to expect. I mean, this’s not up to me, definitely not up to me, so what am I supposed to expect?” He stammered.

“Tony, what’s wrong?” He put down his book, “Whatever it is we can probably solve it. I’m the sharpest mind of Asgard and you… you’re not that bad.”

Tony almost reconsidered the whole proposal thing.

“If you’ll just shut up you’ll make it a lot easier for me.”

“Make what easier?”

“Loki, just let me speak.”

“I’m simply asking you what’s wrong, why are taking it out on me?” He got up since he didn’t like people to look down on him.

“I’m not taking it out on you, I’m only asking you to let me speak!”

“You weren’t speaking, you were babbling!”

“That’s because I have something important to say!”

“You’re behaving like a lunatic, though.”

“I’m the lunatic now?”

“What are you implying?”

“I don’t imply anything, I’m just stating a fact.”

“I’m not a lunatic! It’s because of the child.”

“Oh yes, because you’ve never acted like a crazy diva before.”

“How dare you?”

“I dare because if I don’t make you shut up I can’t ask you to marry me!”

Loki gaped at him, “… what?”

“Fuck, that wasn’t supposed to come out like that. I even have a ring,” Tony fished in the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a little velvet box, “Fuck.”

Loki was still staring at him, his mouth slightly open, blinking repeatedly.

“I had a plan, we would’ve had dinner – something from that French restaurant you like – a pleasant evening and then I’d have popped up the question, not like this, for fuck’s sake,” he swore running a hand through his short hair.

“You… you what?”

“I was planning to light candles, something like that, there were chocolates near the sofa and…”

“You what?” His voice assumed a high-pitched tone, “I don’t understand.”

“I’m asking you to marry me,” Tony said, the little box still in his hand.

Loki stared at him with his lips slightly parted, as if he was having trouble breathing.

“Lokes?’

The god was still standing there wide-eyed.

“It took me some balls to ask this, an answer would be appreciated. Lokes?”

He still seemed unable to proffer a single word.

“Hey, are you still with me?”

“W-why?”

“Okay, come sit on the couch with me,” he grabbed Loki’s wrist and led him on the dark sofa, “Would you just tell me what’s wrong?”

“You… did you just ask me to marry you?”

“Twice, to be accurate.”

“Have you lost your mind?”

“No, but I’ll be quite mad if you don’t come up with an answer. Any sort of answer, just don’t leave me with this uncertainty.”

“But why?”

Lying to Loki was never an option. He could always tell when someone was lying.

“Okay, there’s a reason, but listen to me before lashing out. Apparently according to your laws if you marry me the evil version of Santa won’t be able to get his hands on you or on our child playing the role of the fair judge,” now he hoped Loki wouldn’t have been offended by that hidden motif, “Your mother told me something about how only the firstborn son is the only one to stay in the family after they are married, everyone else simply migrates to the house and the culture of the person they marry, so we thought that…” Tony stopped for a moment, not really knowing how to go on, “Well, that’s not the only reason, it just rushed things a little. I would’ve probably asked you sooner or later, maybe after the baby was born, but this seems to be the best solution to our problem, and who knows, maybe knowing you’re safe you’ll manage to sleep. I’m not saying it’ll erase what’s happened to you and to your sons, but it could give you the peace of mind of knowing that it won’t happen again, not if you are here and…” he was forced to stop mid-sentence when Loki’s lips crashed against his own.

“Was that a yes?”

“This is madness.”

“I won’t argue with that, but what’s your answer?”

“Do you realise how many dangers you face with this? And your plan might not even work.”

“Oh no, if we hurry a little it may. Evil Santa’ll be away and Point Break agrees.’

“Thor knows about this?”

“I think your mother’s just told him. Now you know what he’s up to,” he gestured toward the floor-to-ceiling windows that were still being whipped by the angry rain.

Loki looked outside for a moment, then his attention returned to Tony, “For the sake of argument, let’s say the blond idiot will play along – and from the deluge out there i don’t think so – the dangers I was talking about still remains. What do you think Odin’ll do when he finds out we fooled him and acted behind his back? I can take it, but you’re a mortal, Tony, and you’ve no idea what he’s capable of.”

“Are you worried for me?”

“Of course I am. Your idea is borderline suicidal.”

Tony chuckled, “So you’re worried about your fragile, vulnerable human?”

“I obviously am. I love you and you plan on pissing off Odin himself, without even considering his possible retaliation.”

“Excuse me, you what?”

Loki gaped once again. It was the first time he said it out loud. He was convinced he loved Tony, there was no other possible explanation for what he felt, but he had never dared to voice his feelings even though the other one seemed to do it lightly at least once a day. 

“I…”

Tony seized the moment and opened the velvet box in front of his green eyes; on the little cushion inside there was a golden ring, with a diamond in the middle and the rest of the band peppered with small emeralds.

“Will you marry me?” He asked, this time properly.

“You’re mad.”

“Loki, answer.”

“That’s not…”

“Loki.”

“I… yes,” he finally answered, the blush that had creeped on his cheeks when he had absentmindedly confessed his love to Tony spreading a little more.

Tony didn’t waste a moment and slipped the ring on his finger, before Loki could change his mind.

“You’re definitely mad,” Loki laughed diving in for a kiss, “And so am I for saying yes.”

“See how much we have in common? We should get married,” Tony laughed too, not really believing it had been so easy to get Loki to agree.

“You’re not simply mad, you’re also an idiot.”

“You said yes nonetheless.”

“Don’t make me change my mind,” he didn’t sound really convincing while getting rid of Tony’s clothes.

 

~

 

“Since you plan everything behind my back-“

“You don’t mind me behind your back,” he pressed a little against him, his naked chest against Loki’s skin, nibbling at his earlobe.

Loki rolled his eyes but was forced to suppress a small laugh, “Before you so rudely interrupted me, I was trying to ask you something.”

“Anything, Bambi.”

“First of all stop calling me Bambi.”

“Fine, Faline.”

“What?”

The moment Loki bothered to actually watch the movie he was a dead man, “Nothing.”

The god could’ve pressed the issue farther, but he was far too relaxed to actually care about that possible jab, “As I was saying, since you don’t bother to share your ideas with me before turning them into decisions, would you mind at least telling me when we are supposed to get married? Because I know you have already taken a decision.”

“In my defense, the decision wasn’t mine.”

“And whose decision was it?”

“Your mother’s.”

“Excuse me?”

“She didn’t say she would’ve looked something up for us, she already had it all mapped out. She only wanted to convince me and to make me handle you, so…”

“Handle me?”

“Okay, not handle you, let’s say… brief you.”

Under different circumstances Loki would’ve put on quite a show for such a term, now he was simply feeling too well and at ease to care, “So when?”

“The day after tomorrow.”

“What?” He turned around to look directly at Tony. He expected the date to be soon, but not this soon. Not that it really made a difference, but going from not being able to tell the father of your child you loved him to the prospect of getting married before the sun had set three times… well, that would’ve startled anyone.

“We don’t have much time. Odin’ll be away only for a few days, and we can’t risk to miss this chance if he decides to anticipate his return. Not that it should bother us, it won’t change anything.”

Loki quirked an eyebrow, “We’re going to act as if nothing happened?”

“Well, maybe not as if nothing at all happened,” he hadn’t expected the conversation to take this turn; he thought he would’ve simply asked Loki to marry him, maybe been thrown out of the window, and nothing more. He didn’t think think Loki would’ve started discussing their future as they were still naked on the couch.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Maybe you could not go back to your old habits.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You know, before you moved in.”

“I’m not going to stay locked inside only because we’re getting married,” he argued, “Even if we are to be wed according to the Asgardians traditions I’ve no intentions of becoming your property.”

“That’s not what I’m saying. I wouldn’t even think something like that, for fuck’s sake. Here we believe in equality, it’s not the Middle Age anymore. Just don’t disappear for whole days, that’s it. That’s what I meant, no need to lash out.”

Oh.

It was aways hard for Loki to remember that Tony wasn’t a stupid Asgardian who always meant the worst for him, but old habits are hard to break. He was so used to look for traps in every sentence with which he was addressed that he was always prone to read something that wasn’t even there behind Tony’s words.

“So what you’re saying is just that I should continue living here?”

“Yes, no one’s saying you should be confined in here. If you want to leave you’re absolutely free to do it, just tell me first so I won’t get worried.”

That was a radical change from what Loki was used to, but after all everything concerning Tony was.

“So, now that we’ve got things straight, do you have any idea of how I could survive the meeting with your brother?”

 

~

 

Anyone on the East Cost could say when the day of the wedding came. Since morning a heavy and angry rain had been falling on the entire area, bolts igniting the sky and substituting the light of the sun that was hidden behind the dark clouds.

“Encouraging,” Tony commented as a loud thunder cracked just above their heads.

“He’s just putting on a show.”

“Runs in the family, apparently.”

Loki simply rolled his eyes. He got that Tony was nervous, and his defense method included being even more annoying than usual.

“You can still back off, if you want to,” he offered.

“And face certain death, yes, why not.”

“Tony, you’re not forced to do anything,” Loki approached him and put a hand on his arm, making him turn around, “This whole thing,” he waved the hand with the ring he had received a couple days before, “I know it wasn’t your idea, there’s nothing wrong if you change your mind.”

Tony looked at him in silence for a few moments.

He couldn’t understand if he found more frightening this reasonable version of Loki or the one that had tried to murder him in a quite theatrical way.

“I just have to find a way to tell Mother before she shows up, she could a little pissed if I don’t.”

Someone who didn’t know Loki as well as he did wouldn’t have noticed, but he could hear the concealed disappointment in his voice.

“Lokes, wait. I’ve never said I want to back off. I’m a little concerned I won’t get to the end of the ceremony – or the the beginning, actually – but it has nothing to do with you or us. It’s just that your brother is almost twice my size and, well, a fucking god. And he knew nothing about us up to three days ago,” he rubbed his hands on his face, but was forced to move them way when Loki pulled him in for a kiss.

“I told you: this is just a scene. If I know him well – and I do, he’s not that hard to read – he’s just doing this to frighten you.”

“Successfully, I dare say.”

“But there won’t be any follow-ups to his childish threats.”

Tony wasn’t quite sure about that, but he could only trust Loki on that matter.

“I swear I’ll protect you if he comes up with some strange idea.”

Tony didn’t say anything more, he simply rested his forehead on Loki’s shoulder, enjoying the feeling of the god’s long fingers in his hair.

“I don’t want to disturb you, but we have visitors,” Jarvis informed them, so they turned around to see both Frigga and Thor standing in the middle of the spacious living room; the former looked beaming as she took in the sight of the two of them standing side by side, the latter… well, saying Thor was frowning was quite an understatement. 

He was basically glowering.

“Maybe put these on,” Loki fished something from inside the pocket of his dark jacket, and before Tony could ask him what he meant he was handed the bracelets of his suit. Where the fuck had Loki found them? And most importantly, what had he just read in Thor’s scowl to make him change his mind so suddenly, going from ‘oh, don’t worry, he’s just messing with you’ to ‘hey, why don’t you cover your fragile bones with a metal suit of armour’ ?

Tony wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

Anyhow, he did as he was told.

“Loki, Anthony!” Frigga greeted them with open arms, as if she wanted to hug them already from that distance.

“Mother,” Loki was the one to make the first step, strategically putting himself between Tony and Thor, just in case.

“Your Grace,” the human politely saluted, bowing his head a little.

“Thor, say hi, come on.”

The God of Thunder grumbled something, resembling very much a five-year-old scolded by his mother.

Tony was about to make a joke about that, but Loki discretely kicked him in the sheen to silence him.

“Now, I guess Anthony has already informed you of our conversation of a few days ago.”

“He has, indeed,” it didn’t seem the best idea to tell his mother Tony had proposed by yelling at him, but from the smirk on his lips Frigga could understand there was a fond memory behind his neutral answer.

“Well, then we probably should…”

“Stark, a word,” Thor growled, and Tony had to swallow before he was able to say anything.

“We should probably just…”

“Now,” Thor silenced him, and before he could receive any sort of response he headed for the terrace.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony turned desperately toward Loki, and they had a sort of silent conversation that Frigga couldn’t miss.

_“Help me!”_

_“Go.”_

_“For fuck’s sake, have you looked at him? He wants to murder me!”_

_“Go.”_

_“Please!”_

_“Go!”_

Tony sighed and went after the blond, the expression on his face the one of someone who was following the hangman to the place of his own execution.

When he reached the rooftop an amazed part of him noticed that it didn’t rain around the God of Thunder, as if there was a magic circle around him that prevented him from getting wet, but his attention turned back to its main focus when Thor levelled him with a stare.

“In my defense…” Tony put up his hands, already calculating whether it was preferable to wait for Thor to attack him or to directly jump from there to have the suit rescue him mid-air. Thanks to Loki he already knew that could work.

“You hurt him and I break every single bone in your body. Repeatedly.”

Well, that was a good start.

“Okay, Point Break, just listen for a moment,” he took a step back as Thor shortened the distance between them, “I’ve no intention of hurting Loki in any way. I’m not saying I’ll never make mistakes, you know me, but I’ll never hurt him intentionally.”  
‘ _Differently from your family_ ,’ he would’ve added, had he wanted to put a certain end to his life.

“Was this your idea?”

“What?”

“The wedding.”

“Actually no, but… whoa, wait, just let me finish,” the words rushed out of his mouth as he was sure Thor was about to charge at him, “I had no idea of what to do. I was looking for a solution so that…” he paused for a second. He had no idea if Frigga had informed the blond bear in front of him of the fact that he was about to become uncle again, and if not it wasn’t definitely a good idea to be the one to deliver the news. It was better to come up with something neutral though in case she had.

“So that we could’ve been safe. I don’t particularly trust your father after what Loki has told me he has done to him in the last centuries, so I was looking for a solution, any kind of solution, I was up to anything. Then your mother suggested this, and well, why not?”

“The assumption from which you start for marrying my brother is ‘why not’?”

Why had Thor turned so attentive all of a sudden?

“No, okay, let me explain. The assumption from which I start is that I love him and I don’t want to see him suffer at the hands of someone who has tortured him, directly or indirectly, his whole life. The way through which I would’ve achieved that wasn’t really clear at the time, but then your mother stepped in. I was really up to any thing, the fact that it can be obtained simply with a wedding, well, all the better,” Tony gave him one of his press-smiles, but it didn’t really work on Thor.

“How long has this been going on?”

“A few months. Almost a year,” he corrected when he noticed Thor’s glare. Had he broken some sort of bro-code, like ‘don’t fuck your friend’s brother without asking for permission first’?

“Who knows about the two of you?”

“Very few people. Four actually, counting you and your mother. No wait, it’s not what you think,” Tony interrupted him before the god started yelling at him how he dared to hide his brother like he was his dirty little secret, “I’m not ashamed or anything like that – for fuck’s sake, you know me, I don’t give a damn – the point is that Loki’s past doesn’t exactly make him welcome here on Earth. I’ve heard what’s happened, and I believe him, but many could not, and exposing him like this is definitely not a good idea. We’ll handle his return to Midgard somehow, but it’s something that could blow up in his face if we’re not careful enough. And let me add that with what you in Asgard have always done to anything he cared about he wasn’t exactly eager to include me into the picture.”

“Loki was worried for you?”

“Think he still is. Like right now,” his last words fell on deaf ears.

Thor was too lost in his thoughts to care for what he had just added.

Loki had always been sensitive at the differences between himself and Thor, so if there was any way in which he could match him, he paraded it at the best of his possibilities. Thor was aware Loki didn’t have many friends in Asgard, but those few with whom Loki had managed to get closer to he had always known; Loki showed them around as a sort of trophy, as if proving he could have friends just as well as Thor did.

Now he had something even Thor didn’t have, and instead of bragging about it he had kept it a secret from anyone.

Even from Thor himself.

What Stark had said had a tinge of truth in it, even if Thor wasn’t that ready to admit it. Everything Loki cared about, ended up in disaster. He couldn’t honestly think about an episode in their long lives that could’ve contradicted that pattern.

“Not telling anyone was a shared decision.”

Thor was still pondering all the past stories he could think about, and even if in that moment he would’ve wanted anything but agreeing with Stark, he had to admit he was right. If Loki would’ve just popped up on Midgard as if nothing had happened he would’ve faced certain capture from the SHIELD and a trial with all the Midgardian population against him, and had Loki told them about Stark in Asgard… he wasn’t sure how his father would’ve reacted. He would’ve probably deemed a relationship with a human as a stain on his name and would’ve simply got rid of the mortal, maybe in not even a so subtle way, maybe turning it into a lesson for Loki who in his mind had dared to defy him once more by accepting a lesser creature in his bed.

He hated it, but Stark was right.

And what he hated even more was that from now on he had to keep an eye on him, because he was clearly important to Loki. He had endured the constant jokes about him being alone and the usual mockery without saying a word, not lashing out even once to tell them how wrong they were. Only in that moment Thor realised what kind of assholes his friends were.

They had always belittled Loki even though they claimed they weren’t doing so, and he had foolishly believed them; only now, knowing Loki had been hiding this secret for months, he had realised how many times he had had to lie to avoid revealing too much, and his lies only enlightened how many times he had been laughed at.

Thor had only started thinking about the last months, if he were to consider the last decades or centuries… no, he wasn’t ready for that.

“I won’t call you brother,” he said through gritted teeth, finally looking Stark again in the eyes.

“As long as you don’t kill me, I’m fine.”

 

~

 

“What do you think Thor’s telling him?” Loki asked his mother, looking at the scene on the terrace from the huge windows.

“If I know your brother, he is threatening your human,” a small chuckle escaped her lips, and Loki could do nothing but follow.

“If he only tries to raise a finger on him, though, I go outside.”

Frigga smiled at her son, whose eyes were trained on the two men outside, “Are you sure it is a good idea?”

“Definitely.”

“It is not exactly the right moment to go against your brother. Not for a few months,” she added, since she wasn’t really sure Loki was listening to her.

“So I should just let Thor kill him if he feels like it?” He retorted a little angrily.

“He will not do that. I told him how much you care about him. And speaking of which…” she smiled sweetly looking at her son, “All I know comes from Anthony. You never said a word about him.”

Loki took a deep breath, “It was… better. Safer.”

“You could have told me.”

“I couldn’t risk. Not this time.”

“I would not have told your father, if that…”

“He’s not my father,” he interrupted her, this time anger clearly showing in his voice.

“Loki, not this again, please.”

“What kind of father does to his son what Odin has done to me?”

Frigga had no idea how to answer to that; she herself had still not forgiven Odin for what he had done to her poor Vali and Narvi, asking Loki to do it was only hypocritical from her, and honestly impossible.

It was only for the better that Thor and Tony were getting back from their little chat.

“Okay, so now we could… hey, what’s going on?” Tony quickly crossed the distance that separated him from Loki, noticing the strange expression on his face. Or not even that strange, just the timing was unusual; it was the expression Loki had after his nightmares, when he was waiting for Tony to bring him his tea.

“Nothing.”

“No, look at me,” Tony put his hands on the god’s shoulders, forcing him to look in his direction, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, really,” Loki tempted a small smile that startled his relatives but didn’t fool Tony.

“Okay, now you come with me for a minute,” he kept his hand on Loki’s arm and directed him toward the corridor, “Make yourselves at home,” he added for Frigga and Thor’s sake, not knowing how long that would’ve taken.

“Tony, really, there’s no need. It’s nothing.”

“Why I don’t believe you?”

Another version of Loki would’ve answered that that was his problem, but he simply stared out of the window of the studio in which Tony had led him.

“Lokes?”

“Maybe we should call off the whole thing.”

“What?”

“The wedding. It’s a bad idea. We shouldn’t go through with it.”

“I know it’s usual to get cold feet, but I feel this is not the case,” Tony managed to make him sit on an armchair and perched on the armrest, so to be able to look at Loki from above just for once, “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing. Everything. Nothing in particular.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

“I know, just… trust me. It’s a horrible idea. Let’s just forget about this.”

“Have I done something wrong?”

“No,” he didn’t even hesitate a second, “It’s not about you, nothing you could change.”

Tony stared at him for a few long moments, waiting for Loki to speak up again, but it was of no use. Loki was pointedly keeping his eyes on the parquet, his long locks hiding part of his face.

“Is it again about that stupid idea of protecting me?”

“It’s not a stupid idea,” Loki mumbled.

Tony sighed and kissed Loki’s forehead, wrapping an arm around his shoulders, “We’ve already discussed this.”

“Not properly.”

“Yes, we did.”

“No, I told you how dangerous it is and you ignored me, it’s different.”

“Or maybe I thought about it and believe I’m more than capable of looking after myself.”

“Oh yes, you did a wonderful job though the years,” he snorted.

“I’m here, safe and sound,” Tony protested.

“You have shrapnels in your chest threatening to kill you every minute!”

“I’ve got that under control,” he tapped on the Arc reactor with the tip of his index.

“And do you know how easy would be for Odin to get rid of that blue thing?” he snapped his fingers, “It’d take him nothing.”

“He won’t…”

“What? Do it? Catch you? Be realistic, Anthony.”

Heavens, he was really worried.

“You know nothing of what he’s capable of. You can only imagine it, but yours is just a human imagination, for how extraordinary it is. He could do so many things to you that you would never even deem possible, he could make you consider death a sweet relief. He has ways of getting what he wants you can’t even phantom, powers beyond our imagination. I won’t be the one dragging you into this.”

“So better you and our child?”

“Better me, I have no doubt. I can take it, I know for sure. I already did.”

“Here,” Tony stood up and pointed at him, “Here’s the point. You’ve said it like this, like it was normal. You already did. You can survive the tortures of a mad sadistic maniac, wow, now I’m so convinced I shouldn’t be doing anything in my power for preventing it from happening again.”

“Tony…”

“No, now you fucking listen to me. I’m no child, I’m no dumb little creature you have to protect. I told you a few days ago: equality. I may not be immortal, but I’m not made of glass. You can’t worry about me more that what I do for you, and that’s already a lot. And it may have escaped your notice, but I’m quite stubborn and I don’t really like the prospect of being caged and killed. So now stop whining, get up and go in the living room so that we can get married. Move!” He exclaimed, pointing at the door.

To his own surprise, Loki listened to him.

In the other room Frigga and Thor were looking at each other almost in disbelief. Without even the hint of an order from his inventor Jarvis had provided them with a screen that allowed the two deities to follow the discussion that their ears couldn’t perceive. Neither of them could believe what they were witnessing.

For how long they had lived with him, they had never seen Loki so caring; not that he had never been, he had probably cared about his kids more than they could tell, but he had never showed this side of his character to anyone. And yet here he was, looking at this human with eyes wide for the fear of losing him, of causing him pain.

“Thor, will you…” Frigga whispered, but she didn’t even need to end the sentence.

“Yes,” Thor had no doubt. Had his father tried anything against his Midgardian friend, he would’ve stepped in. After what he had just realised about his brother, how lonely and left aside he had always been, how he had always ignored how different an mocked he had felt, he couldn’t deny him to be happy now. He still felt guilty for what had happened to his nephews, even though there was nothing he could have done at the moment.

Just like his mother, he had found out what had happened just when the deed had been done, but his most blatant fault was that he had decided to turn a blind eye to it. His father and his friends were involved, his brother had decided to run away from them, so it was definitely easier to ignore what had happened; the right thing to do would’ve been going after Loki, try to be there for him and support him at best as he could, demand justice from the people who had butchered his nephews, but he had done nothing of the sort.

He had quickly mourned those kids he didn’t even know that well, and pretended nothing had happened; he had welcomed back Loki when he had decided to return to Asgard, but he had never said a word about what had happened, never asked him anything about that bloody day.

The only thing he could do now was to make sure nothing bad happened to Tony Stark. It would’t have cleaned his conscience, but it was something he could do.

When the two deities saw Loki quietly obeying to the almost order he had just received they wondered if that was really Loki or not.

They tried to school their expressions into something not really that surprised when Loki and Tony came back into the living room, but something still showed because they were welcomed by Loki quirking an eyebrow at them.

“Now let’s stick to the plan,” Tony didn’t add ‘before the mad man here changes his mind again’, but even Thor got the subtext.  
Frigga was the first one to move into action after those words, already preparing the spell that would’ve sealed their bond.

It wasn’t really a ceremony, they had had no time to organise anything and in any case that would’ve drawn too much attention on them, something they truly wanted to avoid. The only thing that mattered was that if someone from Asgard came for Loki he wouldn’t have resulted to be subject to those laws anymore.

“You won’t say anything about this,” Loki warned as they were sitting at the huge table in the large dining room no one ever used.

They all wanted to seem at ease, but the only one actually enjoying herself was Frigga, who had a smile from ear to ear. Queen or not, her son had just got married.

“Not even to your friends, Thor,” he added for good measure, and instead of the protest he expected he simply received a nod from his brother, who was still thinking about what Stark had made him realise just an hour before.

Loki would’ve liked to rub Tony in the face of those bastards, but there were more important things he had to think about.

“Now, at least a toast,” Frigga clapped her hands once to draw their attention to her and to put an end to what would’ve become a nasty conversation.

There were already some glasses on the table and a cold bottle of champagne next to it, so Thor reached out, opened it and poured four glasses, handing them over to the others at the table; Loki refused his one simply putting up a hand.

Thor frowned slightly. Personally he didn’t particularly enjoy wine, he preferred beer, but Loki liked wine, and that seemed a fancy one, Stark had good taste for alcohol.

Thor’s face shifted to a blank expression.

“By the Norns, you’re with child.”

Tony nervously brushed the bracelets of the suit with his finger.

So Frigga hadn’t told him, wonderfu

“Or maybe I just don’t want wine.”

“Yeah, which one is more likely?”

Thor beating Loki with words was quite a sight to behold, not that Tony truly cared at the moment. Under different circumstances he would’ve even mocked Loki for how Thor had just outsmarted him, but why pissing off two gods at once, especially since he was rather relying on Loki for his survival?

“So that’s the reason then.”

The fact that he still hadn’t got up from the chair kind of reassured Tony.

“Mother, you knew?”

The goddess nodded, a warm smile on her lips, “It was not my place to tell you.”

“Nobody would’ve told me anything.”

“It’s not like you’re the best uncle a child could desire,” Loki snapped, his hand instinctively going to his stomach.

“Brother…” he tried, but Tony shook his head no, suggesting him to shut up.

“Loki, my dearest, your brother could do nothing just like I did not, we were not even in Asgard, but I promise you that this time we will always be there for you.”

“This child will never set foot on Asgard,” Loki declared, looking at them as if they had just lost their minds, “Asgard won’t even know of its existence as long as I’m concerned. We’ve been doing all of this to keep this baby out of that slaughterhouse that you call home, I couldn’t care less were you will be this time.”

“Okay, enough,” Tony put his hand on Loki’s shoulder, “Not even a whisper about this baby, okay?” He looked Thor in the eyes, reminding him of their previous conversation, and the blond nodded, “If you want to visit, you will come here and you’ll be more than welcome, but there’s no way we’ll come to Asgard.”

Had he let Loki handle the issue he would’ve told Thor to never show his face ever again, ending up regretting his sudden decision but being too proud to recant.

“You couldn’t, anyway.”

“One reason more.”

“Your presence wouldn’t be so vital, they’ll have to get used to your absence sooner or later.”

Tony stared a him with wide eyes, as Frigga hissed a poorly hidden ‘Thor!’ through gritted teeth.

“What? You’re a mortal, there’s no point in denying it,” he turned to Loki for support since what he had just said made sense and Loki always complained he was an utter fool, but his brother was staring at the table, his clenched fingers white.

“Yes, a mortal,” Loki whispered, not even looking up from the polished surface.

So Loki planned to have him around for more than forty years. Good to know.

Not that Tony had something against it, he was kind of relieved of the fact that both he and Loki wanted the same thing, but it was definitely unexpected.

“See? It’s not like I’ve said something he didn’t already know, differently from the two of you and this whole matter.”

Tony reached out to clasp one of Loki’s hands in his own, but he didn’t elicit any reaction from the god.

“Thor, we are leaving,” Frigga informed him, noticing the look in the eyes of her son and her new son-in-law.

“But Mother, what…”

“Now,” she interrupted him before he could say anything more stupid, and only made Tony understand to call her if he needed her help, but she doubted that; she had never known someone who could put up better with her son.

“Lokes,” Tony called when the room was finally empty, “We still have time to find a solution,” he knelt in front of Loki’s chair to put their joint hands in his lap, “We still have many years to come up with something,” he couldn’t go on with his reassurances since Loki pulled him in for a kiss, a quite desperate one if Tony had to be honest.

“Loki?” He tried when he was able to speak again.

“Later.”

“What?”

“Later. We’ll talk later,” Loki stated getting up and dragging him toward their bedroom.

He had to feel him close. He had to know his human was still alive. He had to be sure that that person who had decided to risk everything just for him was really there.

“Lokes,” Tony called him when they landed on their bed.

“Not now. Please,” he added after a moment, getting rid of Tony’s tie.

“This isn’t the best way to…”

“Just take me. Make me feel close to you.”

Tony looked at him for a few seconds, and what he saw startled him. All masks had been dropped, there wasn’t anything left of them on Loki’s face. What he saw was raw need, the absolute necessity to stop thinking in the only way he knew; he was kind of familiar with the sensation.

That was why he welcomed Loki in his arms, pushing aside the fact that it would’ve been better for their mental health to actually have that conversation that was hanging above their heads like the sword of Damocles, but Tony already knew that the right thing to do right now was a lost cause; he couldn’t do anything but giving Loki everything he wanted, especially since the god was kissing him with such ardour and devotion, biting at his skin even.

They would’ve had that conversation, only later.

 

~

 

“Don’t tell anyone I said this, but stop,” Tony panted, his chest heaving, “One more round and I’ll have a stroke. We would avoid that nasty conversation indeed, but it’d be rather counterproductive.”

Loki kept nibbling at his collarbone, but at least he wasn’t straddling his lap anymore.

It didn’t seem likely he would’ve said anything, tough.

“You know we need to talk. And jumping at me won’t work now,” he carded his fingers through his tangled black hair.

“It’s our wedding night.”

“It started as our wedding afternoon, if we want to be precise.”

Loki gave him a content smirk.

“Okay, I’m not complaining either,” he kept stroking his hair, “What I’m saying is that we should also talk about what that idiot of your brother has said.”

“We don’t talk about him in bed. That’s a rule.”

“We can get up if you want to. I don’t think I can, but if that’s what you want…”

“No, no, fine,” he sighed; he had no desire either to move from that position. Tony’s hand in his hair and the other one resting on the small of his back grounded him, making him feel finally at home. Maybe for the first time.

“So,” Tony cleared his throat, fighting to keep his eyes open; he was definitely too old for that much sex, “It’s not like you didn’t know I have an expiring date.”

Loki almost glowered at him.

“I’m not sugarcoating it, Bambi, but that’s the truth.”

Loki remained silent for a few moments more; he seemed to be gathering his strengths for what he was about to say, like those words would’ve never come out of his mouth if it were for him, “I didn’t think it would’ve been like this. To care this much. “

Tony didn’t know whether to feel insulted or flattered. With Loki one could never tell.

“I thought it would’ve been just a fling, something funny and casual, not…” he trailed off.

Loki at a loss for words was really an unusual show.

“Not for the long haul, mmh?”

Loki nodded against him, staring at the mark he had left on his neck; it wasn’t the only one.

Tony completely agreed. When Loki had come to claim his drink he had firstly thought about a painful death, only to end up grinding against his former enemy on the couch.

A child and a marriage hadn’t even crossed his mind at the time.

“As I’ve said before, it’s not like I’ll die tomorrow. I still have many years ahead of me, there’s no need to mourn me already,” he took Loki’s chin between his thumb and index, “So stop making that face.”

“I’m not making any face.”

“No?” His thumb went to caress his downturned lips.

Loki bit his finger in response.

“Hey! Stop doing that,” the reproach was softened by his small chuckle, “You’ve already left marks almost everywhere on me.”  
It was true, he had the signs of Loki’s teeth and lips in every place; on his chest, on his neck, on his inner-tight, on his hips… he liked when Loki turned so possessive.

“I can’t even remember the last time I had to put make up on to cover hickeys.”

“Are you going somewhere?”

“I may have to, yes.”

A displeased frown flickered across Loki’s traits before he was able to hide it.

“Or I could stay here,” he offered.

“Better,” he grinned, leaving a small bite just at the edge of his goatee.

“It this a new thing or something only for today?”

“We’ll see,” Loki basically purred against his throat, making the genius shiver.

“You know, maybe I’m not that old,” Tony murmured pulling Loki on top of himself again.

 

~

 

When Loki woke up the bed was unexpectedly cold. And there was light outside.

Apparently also that night he hadn’t had nightmares.

He stirred under the duvet; even his fast-recovery body hadn’t been immune to the previous day, apparently.

Such a pleasing thought.

By the Norns, he was going soft.

A sentimental fool, that’s what he was becoming.

And yet he couldn’t care less.

For the first time in his adult life he was happy, truly happy. He was still afraid for what would’ve happened to them in the future, there were too many unknown variables for his liking, and maybe it was only because of what the baby was inducing him to feel, but if he were to focus only on the moment he was happy.

If only he had managed to find Tony, it would’ve been even better.

He got dressed and presentable before leaving the sleeping quarters of the huge penthouse, but when he reached the living room two different thoughts hit him at the same time: first, it was way later in the morning than what he thought; secondly, no one was there.

“Tony?” He called for good measure.

When not even Jarvis answered to inform him of where his creator was, he got suspicious.

“Jarvis?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Where is… my husband?” The word tasted strange on his tongue, but not bad. Definitely not bad.

“Not here, sir.”

“Jarvis, that pesky inventor of yours is already annoying enough, there’s no need for you to mimic his attitude.”

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“Well?”

“I’m not allowed to tell, sir.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I’ve been instructed not to reveal Mr. Stark’s location to you, sir.”

“May I know why?”

“I’m not allowed to tell, sir.”

What in Valhalla was going on?

“What he’s up to?”

“I’m not all-“

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence.”

“Yes, sir,” the AI shut up, leaving Loki in the silence of the penthouse.

He had just started wondering whether it was the case or not to contact Bruce to have a gist of what was happening to the idiot he had had the misfortune of marrying, when the doors of the elevator opened startling him.

“Miss Pepper?”

“Hello, Loki,” she greeted him, totally unfazed by his presence despite having seen him just once before.

“May I know to what I owe the honour of your visit?”

“I hoped you could talk some sense into Tony.”

“Actually I don’t even know where he is at the moment,” he had to admit.

Pepper quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Jarvis won’t tell me.”

“Cared to look out of the window?”


End file.
